Chapter 2: Save Yourself
The mass of bluish metal shifted and twisted out of Jacques' body, paying no mind to the tears and wounds left behind. The Devil reshaping itself out of the axe rose to its feet, the sound of its engine purring accompanying its growly voice.
"Finally! I'd hazard a guess we would've finished here much earlier if I went in first."
"Velos…" the dying man forced himself to whisper, barely raising his head, blood pooling around him.
"Don't worry!" purred the Devil, taking the liquid bullet from Jacques' fingers and throwing it in the air, his serrated teeth creating sparks as they snapped shut around the bullet, swallowing it. "I gotcha~"
Out of his metal wrist flung out pieces, metal plates moving out of the way, snapping into place in Velos' palm, forming a Luger-like pistol, the bullet already loaded into the chamber.
With his dead, cold eyes, Velos looked over at the corpse of a man in front of him, although both their gazes were just as glassy. He aimed the gun towards Jacques' head, smiling ear to ear.
Bang! The bullet tore through the air, landing deep in Jacques' cranium. But it wasn't merciful enough to end his suffering. He could feel his nervous system firing up every single neuron in his body, sending waves of electricity with each pulse, the blood in his veins boiling within his own body, his body engulfed within a growing column of steam.
A second passed, and it was all over.
"Better?~" asked Velos, holding a finger below the previously dying man's chin, lifting his gaze.
"Yeah," he coughed, "I'm fine."
"Lovely."
Jacques and Velos split ways.
Velos approached the Zmey, grinning from ear to ear, his serrated teeth gnashing together. As he approached it, he growled, his engine revving as fast as possible. The Zmey froze, turned around, and was absolutely terrified, trying to make itself look bigger and more threatening, roaring to scare away the thing slowly approaching it.
But Velos knew this. He knew the giant, metal-scaled dragon was afraid of him. He could smell it; its adrenaline, its cortisol, its fear. And it only made him rev faster, his teeth and claws sharpening, his reflexes getting more agile. He continued to approach the Zmey, with the beast backing away. The creature inhaled and, in a single breath, spewed fire from its mouth as a last-ditch effort to defend itself.
Meanwhile, Jacques was looking through the debris, trying to find a chain, or a long rope, or anything for that matter. The plan was simple: Velos gets the Zmey's attention, Jacques anchors himself to it, and they both guide it out of the city through the evacuated area. And after enough looking, he had to settle for a hose. Hopefully, it would hold.
All the while, Velos was running circles around the Zmey, trying to avoid the column of yellow fire trailing him. Jacques made his way toward the distracted Zmey, attempting to climb onto its neck unnoticed.
But the beast saw him, and as it knew what he could do, diverted its attention to the man climbing its leg. Velos jumped after Jacques, pushing him out of the way just in time, as the Zmey engulfed the area in flame. And while Jacques was unharmed, Velos wasn't so lucky.
"You good?" asked Jacques sarcastically, gazing at Velos, half of whose body was left molten and malformed.
"Oh yeah, everything's dandy! Who could have predicted this happening?! Not me!" he answered, trying to gesture with his misshapen arm, sparks flying from within, the metal trying and failing to grow and reform itself.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I take full responsibility for this. I promise I won't let you get burned again until the Phlogiston wears off."
The Zmey redirected its attention again, enraged at the fact that it had missed. Before it could attempt once more, Velos grabbed Jacques with his remaining arm and flung him on top of the Zmey. Jacques shoved the hose into the beast's mouth and used it as makeshift reins while the Zmey thrashed its head, trying to shake him loose. Velos roared once again, gritting his teeth, and with Jacques pulling on its mouth, the Zmey forcefully lifted from the ground, trying desperately to get away.
Jacques pulled on the makeshift reins, trying to guide the flying beast out of the city. He clung tight, the wind shear and blood loss pushing him to the edge of consciousness more than one should experience. Velos was still on the ground, running after them, easily matching the Zmey's speed. Reaching the city's edge, Jacques let go of the hose, letting himself fall.
Velos, standing just below, jumped across the buildings, catching Jacques mid-air, helping him not break his neck when touching the ground.
As they landed, they watched as the Zmey flew away, heading back in the direction it had come from. Or rather, Jacques watched as the Zmey flew away, as Velos simply faced the direction, his eyes faking focus.
But they hadn't had the time to lower their guard. Jacques' radio crackled to life, the voice on the other end frantically trying to reach them.
"-I don't care who, send someone there, NOW! Ahem, Jacques, do you copy?" the woman on the radio asked in a rush. "That Zmey wasn't the only one to take advantage of that opening. Velos, how much fuel you got?"
"10 minutes, more or less."
"Perfect. It should be headed directly to your location. Buy as much time as possible for backup to arrive."
"Nice timing," responded Jacques, looking over at a nearby tree.
The formerly lush maple stood mighty near the entrance of a bookstore, but right in front of them, the two could see its green leaves turning brown, then black, falling one after the other. The empty branches followed, as they too appeared to dry and rot from the inside. What remained was less than a husk of the tree that had stood there minutes before, contrasting with the still green and blooming petunias planted on the windowsill.
Jacques and Velos looked at each other knowingly. Jacques took a few steps backward.
Velos knelt, placing his hand on the concrete below. He stood still, appearing to analyse... something. He sensed it a few metres away, on the road, a single pebble, so small you wouldn't observe it unless purposefully so, moved ever so slightly.
This was the cue he needed. This single movement allowed Velos to pinpoint the thing's location, and, more importantly, its trajectory. He got up in a swift movement and ran along the path he had predicted, before stopping, now much further away than he was before.
He raised his still-intact hand into the air as his engine roared. The plates in his arm shifted, re-configuring, and all the torque of his engine sent into it, just as his fist hit the ground, like a hydraulic press hitting the ground.
The concrete split wide open, forming a deep crater, the slabs jagged and misaligned. He looked at his still deformed half, sparks still flying from the molten parts, a look of annoyance visible on his face.
Jacques approached the cavity, easily describable as a crater, slowly, looking around, as if waiting for something to happen.
"So?"
"Give it a second; maybe it's lower than I thought. Still, I should've caught its atte-"
A giant serpentine creature emerged from the ground right below Velos, taking him and thrashing him into the ground before descending back into the ground. Velos got back up, his functional arm now shattered into many pieces, and, in a single, booming rev, it appeared to grow back, the metal still red-hot, with the bits on the ground breaking down into a fine red dust. The molten side of his body still spewed sparks.
"I caught its attention alright!"
The two stood back to back, looking around for any sign of the creature. Jacques could feel the heat from Velos' body, on the verge of burning him just from the proximity. The ground remained utterly motionless, not a single tremor. The spots where it emerged from and dived back were untouched, every stone perfectly in place.
The creature appeared once again, but this time, it went not for them, but for one of the nearby buildings. It went headfirst into its support beams, destroying them with ease. The skyscraper buckled under its own weight, hurtling down right on top of Jacques and Velos.
From the smoke and dust, only debris and rubble were visible. The two stood a few metres nearby, overlooking the disaster, having emerged unscathed thanks to Velos' reaction speed.
"So, what do we do about the Wyrm now?" asked Jacques, arms crossed, absolutely unfazed.
"Bastard got more careful with its movements now that it knows we're searching."
The two heard a release of air from the debris of the broken building. Chunks of black rock and concrete turned more beige as the creature's silhouette became more visible, reverting from its camouflage, readying itself to pounce.
"I'll bait it, you kill it."
"Sounds good."
The creature lunged at them, Velos sucker-punching Jacques out of the way while retreating himself. The beast landed silently and melted into the ground, gliding through the solid earth like water.
Jacques ran into as open an area as he could, reaching for his radio.
"We intercepted the Stone Wyrm; Velos is dealing with it right now."
"Roger. Just hold on. Wait for Lorand to arrive," responded the woman on the other side, slightly distracted, the sound of rustling paper and keyboard typing almost drowning out her voice.
Jacques, meanwhile, calmly walked, occasionally dodging the Wyrm's attacks from below. He didn't know where it was or when it would resurface. He just kept counting in his head, and that appeared to have been working so far.
"Mihaela says we should wait for Lorand!" he yelled at Velos, jumping a few steps forward, the Stone Wyrm appearing and missing to pull him under.
"TELL THE HAG WE GOT THIS!" he yelled, louder, constantly revving his engine, appearing irritated at the sparks that flew from his misshapen half.
The Wyrm lunged upwards, far above the ground, roaring. Jacques could perfectly see its skin, calcareous and rock-like, and its wings, too small and solid and made of rock to support any sort of flight, according to the laws of aviation. But the Stone Wyrm didn't care about the laws of aviation, because he flew anyway.
Roughly twelve metres long, the serpentine creature circled Jacques from above before plunging back into the concrete.
When it resurfaced, it didn't attack him. It simply stared, waving its head, analysing Jacques. It was curious. Why was he so calm? For it and Velos were of a kind; both could smell fear, but this human that stood before it, he didn't smell at all. Why was that?
Jacques stood in front of the Wyrm, hands in pockets, staring back into its eye... -holes. The Stone Wyrm lacked a mouth, nose, or eyes; its horned, rock head had only two large holes, allowing Jacques to see inside it. The Wyrm was hollow, only a glorified tube made of stone, its interior ever so slightly darker.
The Wyrm, apparently satisfied, coiled back and lunged toward Jacques—
—And just as the two were about to make contact, along came Velos.
He pushed Jacques out of the way, and with one hand grappled its head. As his claws contacted its rocky exterior, he smiled widely, his serrated, shark-like teeth glinting in the light.
Jacques lifted his head from where he'd landed, blinked, and saw Velos already on the far side of the Wyrm, strolling with his hands behind his head. The Wyrm was stunned, immense cracks appearing on its skin, miniature explosions painfully splitting it open.
"See? Told you I could-"
"It's still alive."
"Itsstillwhat?"
The Wyrm collapsed, slipping back into the earth as though it had never been there.
"You didn't discharge deep enough."
"SHUT UP! I'll get it this time!"
The two stood back to back once more. Velos revved his engine to full, sparks spitting wildly from his molten half. Jacques could only think about how great it was that he could heal his eardrums, with Velos being so loud.
The Wyrm re-emerged, snaking its way to them, up and down, picking up speed.
And in a stroke of opportune luck, the effects of the Zmey's fire wore off. The molten and misshapen part of Velos' body stopped spewing sparks, heated, and regenerated itself, now red-hot. Now, Velos could slash deep enough.
He charged towards the Stone Wyrm, dragging his claws across the concrete, sharpening them. He needed to kill this thing, right here, right now.
He grinned wide, ready to—
"Swords Dance..."
...was all they heard before a giant, crystalline sword pierced the Stone Wyrm cleanly. Seconds later, a wave of smaller blades pierced the Wyrm's entire body. The beast collapsed, now definitively, its rock exterior quickly breaking apart, turning into a fine, red dust. Velos didn't move. He stood there, frozen. Still ready to pounce on the Wyrm. On his face, only an unreadable expression remained, something between a frown and a grimace, his jaw hanging loose.
Jacques looked back, and there he saw him approaching. A robotic being, his skin a clean, polished white metal, his eyes large, yellow LEDs, his hair silver strands neatly stilled. He approached, smiling awkwardly.
"Hope I didn't get here too late!"